Water vehicles, such as manned surface vehicles (e.g., 7 meter or 11 meter rigid hull inflatable boats), unmanned surface vehicles (e.g., Spartan Scout USV), manned underwater vehicles (e.g., Seahorse Submarine available from Seahorse Submarines Inc., Stuart, Fla.), and unmanned underwater vehicles (e.g., REMUS or BPAUV) are generally launched from and recovered to a host ship. Typical apparatus currently employed to launch or recover water vehicles includes hoists and slings or other containers adapted to a specific type of water vehicle.
One of the common concerns during launching or recovering water vehicles is damage to the vehicles themselves or injury to personnel involved in the launch or recovery procedure. For example, damage to the water vehicle or injury to personnel can occur at the ocean/atmosphere interface where rough waves can generate large mechanical forces on a launching or recovered water vehicle. As a result, water vehicles are typically not launched or recovered during a storm or under the influence of rough seas. Damage or injury may also result as the sling or other type of container responds to waves resulting in the vehicle being slammed against the structure of the host ship or personnel. Damage or injury may also result from differences in speeds between the host ship and the launched/recovered water vehicle as well as differences in speeds between the host ship and the apparatus used to launch or recover vehicles. In addition, injury can occur to personnel, especially personnel located in the ocean or other water body (e.g., divers), during attachment of a tether line from the hoist to the water vehicle, or during other guiding, stabilizing, or attachment procedures. Specifically, personnel may be injured by becoming tangled in the tether line or through interactions with a water vehicle during the launch or recovery process. Additional damage or injury can occur when a water vehicle comes in contact with a rigid ramp, especially when vertical motion of the vehicle and a host ship are not substantially similar.
Another common problem with conventional launch and recovery apparatuses are their size, complexity, and cost. For example, conventional launch and recovery apparatuses are in general adapted in size and shape to specific types of water vehicles. As a result, not all launch and recovery apparatuses can be used to launch or recover a plurality of different types of water vehicles. In general, conventional launch and recovery apparatuses are designed to launch or recover a specific water vehicle. As a result, host ships are dedicated to launching or recovering only a certain type of water vehicle, thereby increasing the costs of launch or recovery processes. Moreover, conventional launch and recovery apparatuses include multiple large parts (e.g., hoist, sling, or container) that take up a lot of space on the host ship, are complex to operate, and may require divers in the water (especially for unmanned water vehicles) for many applications.